THE FIRST STEP TO PEACE BY Ali Sukhanver

Desire for peace is the first step leading to the struggle for peace. The people of Pakistan and India are certainly lucky enough to have this desire in abundance.

Although the relationship between the two countries at state-level has never been very much amiable and cordial yet the people have always made sincere efforts to breach these artificially developed distances between the two countries. Last Friday, the same passion for peace gave a new color to the morning at the Wagah border when baton for the XIX Commonwealth Games reached India from Pakistan. Almost 5,000 spectators, officials and armed personnel were there to witness joyfully the celebrations of the Queen’s Baton Relay on both sides of the border. One could feel the hidden and inexpressible desire of friendship among the people who were participating in the scenario. As reported by The Hindu, ‘‘Friendship through sports’ was the theme of the celebration, and the mood on either side was befittingly upbeat, a positive sign for both the countries on the heels of the Foreign Secretary-level talks in Islamabad.’ The Times of India has also commented the celebration in the same way, ‘This extravaganza (Delhi Games 2010) will not only bring closer the people of the subcontinent but also the participating countries. It is a great day for sports in India. It is because of Pakistan’s efforts that India got the Games and it shows that India’s relationship with Pakistan will improve if we concentrate on sports ties.’ In short it was all very wonderful and colorfully imaginative. After the Wagah celebrations, relaxing on the rear seat of my chauffer driven car returning to the hazardous life of Lahore, I was thinking of the artificially distorted relationship between the two countries. My eyes were gazing at the road leading westward to Pakistan and eastward to India. This small village is called the Berlin of Asia. It was divided into two portions in 1947 at the time when British India gave birth to two autonomous states of Pakistan and India. I was pondering over the reasons and causes which drew a line of demarcation between the people living together for the last many centuries. If the Hindus had not behaved brutally, if the Muslims were not treated callously and if the majority had not treated minority cruelly, this unnatural but compulsory division would never have ever taken place. Even after this division the situation could be bettered and improved if things were taken care of in a sensible way. The two countries could have developed and sustained a better working relationship if rules of equality and justice were keenly observed and the basic root-causes of conflicts were rooted out in a proper way at the proper time.
It is something very optimistic that no issue of conflict between the two countries is unfathomable. The Kashmir issue, the water problem and the wave of terrorism growing rapidly in both the countries, nothing is unsolvable. The 90% of the total conflict would no more be there if the people of Kashmir are given a free hand to decide their future and the Indus water treaty is strictly observed. After that the two neighbouring countries could devote all their attention, efforts and resources to curb and crush the problem of terrorism. Although both the countries must share equal responsibilities in this regard yet India being a big country with a lot of resources will have to sacrifice more for the peace and calm of the whole region. But no such effort could be fruitful on the part of India unless two very negatively important elements are checked and chained; the Raw and the Hindutva ideology.
As a result of the so-called War on Terror of USA, Pakistan is facing a lot of problems. It is really a very tough time for the people of Pakistan though they are bearing the consequences of this hypocritically imposed war on terror with marvelous determination and resolve. In such a painful situation the Raw supported criminals disguised as Islamist terrorists are adding salt to the injury. The activities of these criminals are on one hand trying to cause unrest in Pakistan and on the other hand defaming the efforts and struggle of the Afghan volunteers who are doing their utmost to save their land from the clutches of foreign invaders. It might be true that the political government of India is neither behind all these activities of Raw nor in their support but it is very much true that it has never tried to put a check on the activities of this so-called intelligence agency. According to various reports the democratic government of India has lost a total control over this agency and the hi-ups of Raw are most of the times guided, commanded and directed by the CIA and the Mosad. Moreover this agency has very close relationship with different Hindu extremist organizations. As a result of this nexus Raw has to look after the benefits and interests of the CIA, the Mosad and the Hindu extremist organizations like Shiv Sena. Raw has a very strong hold and influence in different sections of the Indian army. In short the Raw is running a parallel government behind the scene sometimes without and most of the time with the knowledge of the political government. Last year the Asian Tribune published a report regarding the heinous activities of the Raw. The report says, “Links of Indian military and Raw with Hindutva organizations are no secret now. Most of such organizations have links with military establishment at different level. The root of this cooperation is decades-old appeal: “India is for Hindus only”. This is nothing new but there is something new and that is the growing influence of this ideology among Indian military and elements that are now not in control of Indian military or Indian government but they are on their own agenda of Hindutva, a name given to same old appeal of race and religion regarding India.”
Internationally the Muslims are blamed and defamed for suicide bombing through out the world from Palestine to Pakistan but nobody ever refers to the Hindu suicide bombers. It would be a matter of great interest for the readers to know that RAW had many times used its suicide bombers in Sri Lanka to create panic and fear during the period when the LTTe tigers were waging a war against the Sri Lankan nation. These suicidal terrorists were trained by the organizations that follow the Hindutva ideology. Other than carrying on the operation against the people of Sri Lanka, the aim and objective of these organizations is to target all the minorities in India including the Muslims, Christians and the Sikhs. A longstanding peace and harmony between India and Pakistan is not only inevitable for the two neighbouring countries but for the whole of the South-Asian region. Still there is an ample time to review and revive the worsening state of affairs. If the people of two countries have a strong desire for peace, why are the Raw and the Hindutva followers given a free hand to crush their desire?

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